HAG OF THE DRIBBLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16574, 5 November 1921, Page 3

HAG OF THE DRIBBLE.

EERIE GHOST OF WALES. Though there, is no exact counterpart to tho Irish Banshee, the Welsh possess a ghost, tho Gwracli y Rhibyn, or Hag of the Dribble, that i» very similar (writes Elliott O’Donnell in “ Pearson’s "Weekly.”) It sometimes appears in the guise of a man, though more often in that of a woman, and is said to foretell the death of the person outside whose house it makes its demonstrations. According to those who claim to have seen it, the phantom has long black teeth, lank withered arms, something resembling wings, and very white cheeks. It is usuallv rather vague and shadow} 7 , though at times it would seem to» be quite vivid, and real. It generally comes in the stillest hours of tho night, howling and wail Ing round the cottage of tho doomed person in hollow, far-away tones. A DREADFUL LAUGH. A perfectly authentic case of the appearance of this apparition took place recently near Cardiff. A farmer on a visit to an old friend was aroused at night by a series of fearful screams, accompanied by a violent shaking of the window frame in his room. Much alarmed, he got out of bed and, throwing open the window, called out, but the only reply was a dreadful laugh, followed by »another series of screams, and lie then saw, floating apparently in mid-air, a figure resembling a very aged woman, with long, dishevelled hair, tusk-like teeth, and a startlinglv white face. She was enveloped ill a long flowing gown of black. While lie was staring at her, too alarmed and fascinated even to move, she crossed the road and disappeared through tho “ closed ” entrance of the house opposite. The old farmer then got back into bed, and in the morning learned that tho owner of the house which the Gwracli y Rhibyn had entered, had died the very hour the manifestations had occurred. FARMER FAILED TO RETURN. Another case occurred a- few years ago near Barmouth. The wife of a farmer was sitting in her parlour with the children one evening, waiting for the return of her husband from market. The night was very dark, but absolutely calm and still, not a breath of air anywhere. As the hours passed and ho did not arrive, she began to grow rather anxious, and was straining her ears listening for him, when from afar off. quite suddenly, came a euriuos moaning, wailing sound unlike anything she had hitherto heard. Increasing in volume, it gradually came nearer and nearer until it finally swept past the window, dying ominously away in the distance, and accompanied, so she fancied, by the dark, shadow}- outlines of something almost too grotesque to be human. TIE WAS QUITE DEAD. “ Whatever was that, mother? ” olio of the children asked, when there was ohoe again silence. Striving to conceal the emotion in her voice, for the horror of some impending catastrophe had como over her, she answered : “ Oh, that was only a bird.” “ A bird ” the child replied. “ Well, I’m sorry for the bird that made a noise .ike that ” A few seconds later one of the farm servants came into the room white and trembling. “ Hadn’t we better go and look for the master,” she said. “ The Gwrach y Rhibyn has just passed by the house, and 1 saw it turn round and look in at us.” The farmer’s wife was unconvinced. But when they went to look for the farmer they eventually came upon him lying on the ground near the cross roads. He had been thrown from his horse, and was quite dead.